There are certain things that should just be a given, they should just happen. One of the things that just do not happen often enough is people giving up their seats on the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) for the elderly, pregnant, injured or the disabled.

Too many times I have been on the subway or bus and have witnessed the elderly or pregnant being forced to stand because a train or bus full of inconsiderate jerks refuse to give up their seats. This is something that should not have to be asked it should just be done.

Young people are the worst for this kind of behaviour. Far too often I have been forced to be the one to pipe up on the bus and ask people to give their seats up to someone who is far to old, or far too pregnant to be standing.

I have witnessed people intentionally put their head down or close their eyes, so that they don’t have to acknowledge these people. Giving up your seat is an act of decency that has been lost over time and it is shameful.

When I was young I would have got a swat in the head, or a kick in the butt, if I would have sat in a seat on the bus while an elderly person or pregnant women was standing. That expectation of decency has carried with me into adulthood, like it has for most others who grew up in an era where respect for others was not asked for but demanded by your parents.

It has gotten so out of hand that we are at a point where if you say something to someone about giving up their seat you get a dirty look or some other display of their shitty attitude.

I find it to be ridiculous that when I give my seat up on the bus people thank me and tell me what a good person I am. I tell people all the time, “That does not make me a good person, that should be regular everyday behaviour from everybody.” It is like saying hey you are a good person because you through your garbage in the garbage can, instead of throwing it on the ground—Think about that?

Is that really where we are at as a society that I stand out in a crowd for behaving like a decent human being? If so than society today is in a really, really sad place, and I hope that we can recognise that and make the necessary changes and begin to respect each other like we should

I am well aware that this is just one small example of poor behaviour, but it is a direct relation to the way we as a society look at things in 2013; everyone is too busy looking out for number one to be worried about what is going on around them.

We need to get back to a time when a pregnant women or senior citizen gets on the bus and every able-bodied person is willing to give up their seat. Maybe even get to a place where it is the norm to help the elderly on and off the bus. If not simply because they need the help than because we one day are going to be the elderly and may need a helping hand or a seat on the bus ourselves.

I went for a beautiful run today down by the lake along the path and down into the Don Valley along the Lower Don Valley trail. It was super enjoyable and the weather was beautiful; sun shining on my face, a slight breeze that kept me pretty cool and enough water to last the run. Everything was perfect.

There was however one element of the run that kept popping up repeatedly that was rather annoying and that was people’s lack of “Sidewalk etiquette” or in this case “Path etiquette”. I never realized how many people have no idea of how this works or just refuse to acknowledge it.

For those who truly don’t know it is like driving; you stay to the right, on the path there is even lines in the middle just like on the road. You stay on the right and so does everybody else, and things run smoothly, it’s not rocket science.

So here I am running down the path staying to the right and over and over again I am politely moving over to the left and running around people who are walking on the wrong side. When I eventually become aggravated and annoyed by these people I decide, lets see if they move if I don’t.

Now I am not going to just run into someone or barge through or do anything juvenile like that, so, I wait until I get about ten feet away and I slow down and now these two guys are looking at me like, what you are just going to run into me? and I ask simply are you guys really going to look at me like I am in the wrong here? You should be walking on the right hand side, to which they reply says who? Western Society that is who.

I jog past them and am left asking myself, are people really oblivious to this? Do they honestly think people took the time to draw lines down the middle of the path that runs across the entire city for kicks? I have to believe that they just choose not to acknowledge it because otherwise I have to accept that this lack of general intelligence actually exists.

Admittedly this probably shouldn’t bother me that much but everyone has things that bother them and well this is one of things that bothers me.

All right, for all you that are new to my website this is the pet peeves section. This is where I unload about things that annoy the shit out of me. Not petty things, things that can actually get on my last nerve.

It took all of ten minutes on the bus today for me to find today’s topic, or maybe I should say for today’s topic to find me. If any of you travel by public transit on a regular or semi-regular basis I am sure you have encountered those people (usually teenagers) who like to play their music full blast from there phone without headphones…These people are one of my pet peeves.

After a long day or a long bus ride these are the kind of people that have you thinking maybe a couple of years in prison is worth it, and if you are especially lucky they may even engage in a little sing along—always nice.

Of course these aren’t people who can sing and would actually provide you with some sort of entertainment, no, no these are the people who couldn’t carry a tune in a freaking bucket. So the least I can hope for when I hear our little songbirds enter the bus is that maybe just maybe they are going to be blaring something that I could actually stand, but that is never the case. It is always some lyrically challenged top forty artist who has made his money screaming black and yellow into a microphone or something like that.

So now the rest of the people on the bus as well as myself are forced to sit here and listen to this disrespectful, out of tune, out of sync, mental midget stumble through one of the worst songs in history until we can no longer take it. So when I have finally reached my breaking point (usually after about ten minutes) and turn around as maturely as possible and ask Malibu’s most wanted if he wouldn’t mind turning that shit down…what do I get… and eye roll, while he sucks his teeth and looks at me like how dare I interrupt his “flow”.

I can only conclude that he has no idea how bad I now want to give him a smack, take my belt of and proceed to give him what I can only assume he has been missing for a whole lot of years. As an adult however I am aware that our justice system frowns upon this sort of response, and with the rent bill due this week and a son who would much prefer to have both his parents, this is clearly not an option. So I am forced to sit here for a half dozen stops well I am serenaded by the musically challenged.

I can only hope that the movie “The Purge” will become our reality in the next little while and I will be afforded the right to beat the holy hell out of these socially inept, ignorant, little a**holes.

Wow that feels a bit better thanks for listening, and just know that if you feel like me, you are not alone.